Unforgettable
by vericus
Summary: Ratchet may have an ingrained distrust of anything Sideswipe does, but he can also admit when he's been wrong about the red hellion.


**Pairing/Characters:** Perceptor/Sideswipe, Ratchet

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

**Author's Note:** Apparently it was a mistake to let my Sideswipe muse listen to the Watchmen soundtrack. -.- Fluff!

- **Unforgettable **-

"I still can't understand what possessed you to go along with all this." Ratchet grouched as he and Perceptor headed back to the med bay after having their evening energon. Perceptor was helping Ratchet calibrate a new piece of diagnostic equipment for med bay, and the two wanted to get the calibration finished before heading to recharge for the night. And, naturally, over the course of the afternoon their discussion had left work-related topics until, around the time they were finishing their energon, it drifted into Perceptor's new-found relationship with a certain red Lamborghini.

"Who says I'm 'going along' with it?" Perceptor asked easily. "It was a mutual decision."

"I say he's got some sort of a prank planned, with you as the victim." the medic replied with a frown.

"I somehow doubt it." Perceptor said with a shake of his head.

"Oh? And you're suddenly the expert on Sideswipe?" Ratchet asked challengingly.

"Have you ever known Sideswipe to pull the same prank twice?" Perceptor asked Ratchet pointedly. The medic frowned.

"He seems to enjoy putting super glue on random chairs in the Ark." he said.

"That is one on-going prank, however." Perceptor pointed out. "Besides that, he has never done the same prank twice."

"So?" Ratchet asked.

"That means this _isn't_ a prank." Perceptor said with a satisfied smile.

"What?" Ratchet gave the scientist a look of confusion.

"He's already done it as a prank once - with me, in fact. Since he never does the same prank twice, that means this isn't prank." Perceptor explained patiently. Ratchet frowned. "I can look out for myself, Ratchet."

"I know you can, I just don't trust Sideswipe." Ratchet said dismissively, then suddenly paused. "Do you hear...music?" Perceptor paused, listening carefully.

"I do." he said thoughtfully.

"I'd better go tell Prowl that Jazz's music is leaking into the halls again." Ratchet huffed, turning to leave, but Perceptor caught his arm.

"Jazz left early this morning for a concert in New York, Ratchet." the microscope said with a small frown. Ratchet looked back in surprise.

"Who else would it be, then?" the medic asked. Perceptor gave Ratchet a blank look, and the medic snorted faintly before listening carefully. "It sounds like it's coming from this direction." he said, and headed off, following the music. Both were surprised when, eventually, they came to a stop in front of Perceptor's door.

"You locked your door this morning, right?" Ratchet asked pointedly. "And didn't leave Sideswipe inside?" Perceptor shook his head with irritation.

"Do you really think, Ratchet, that Sideswipe would set up such an elaborate, time-consuming hoax just to get unrestricted access to my quarters?" the scientist asked somewhat sarcastically. "He does not have the patience to enact such a plan."

"True. He's always been more impulsive." Ratchet said with a frown.

"However, he _is _likely responsible for the music." Perceptor conceded with his own small frown. "I'll tell him to turn it down." Perceptor palmed open the door - and stopped, one foot raised, surprise sweeping across his face. Ratchet, curious, peered over the scientist's shoulder, his optic ridges shooting upwards at what he saw.

"When did you decide to furnish your quarters, Perceptor?" Ratchet asked in surprise. Perceptor spent more time in his lab than his quarters, which had left the room quite spartan - until now. Now, a couch sat along the far wall, a desk next to it complete with a computer terminal. Along the wall beside it, opposite the recharge berth, a series of shelves had been put up, one currently holding the stereo responsible for the music. The recharge berth itself had acquired the strange foam pillows that some of the more human-friendly Bots had become fond of, and on the wall above it...Ratchet's thoughts trailed off and fizzled to a temporary halt as his gaze settled on the decoration there.

"I didn't." Perceptor said, sounding shocked, as he took a hesitant step inside his transformed quarters. Ratchet, barely hearing the scientist's answer to his now-forgotten question, used the opportunity to slip past Perceptor and head over to the recharge berth, inspecting the new decoration above it closely.

"I take it all back, Perceptor." Ratchet said finally, turning around to see the scientist still staring around in dazed surprised.

"What?" Ratchet's voice seemed to startle Perceptor out of his surprise as he focused on the medic.

"I said, I take it all back." Ratchet repeated patiently. "I just hope you're in this for the long haul, because he certainly is." Perceptor's confusion grew, and Ratchet chuckled, tilting his head to the side and listening to the music, which he hadn't thought to pay attention to before now. "I give it a week before he's moved in." Perceptor looked almost alarmed at that, and Ratchet grinned.

"What - why would you say that?" Perceptor stumbled over the question as he looked around almost nervously.

"Well, for one, this is more effort than I've seen Sideswipe put into anyone. But more importantly, that's one of Sunstreaker's paintings." Ratchet said, jerking his thumb towards the wall behind him. "Prowl and I are the only other two on the base to have one. It means Sunstreaker's accepted you."

"Sunstreaker paints?" Perceptor asked blankly. Ratchet nodded, smiling faintly, but said nothing more on the subject - Perceptor would find out from Sunstreaker himself soon enough.

"I think I'll go finish calibrating that machine now. Leave you to get used to your new furniture." the medic said.

"Nonsense, we started calibrating it together, we'll finish together." Perceptor insisted immediately.

"I don't think so." Ratchet said, heading for the door. "Sideswipe's shift ends in 5 minutes."

"Ratchet -" Perceptor's pleading tone made Ratchet pause and look back. The scientist looked...frazzled.

"You're the one who made the 'mutual decision', Perceptor. Now you have to deal with the consequences." the medic couldn't help but say with a smirk, then left Perceptor's quarters, closing the door behind him. His smirk didn't dim as he headed back to the med bay, and when he passed Sideswipe in the hall, hurrying in the opposite direction, he full-out grinned, and couldn't resist humming a few bars of the song Sideswipe had left playing as he passed. He ignored Sideswipe's stumble and wide-opticed stare, continuing on his way to the med bay, planning on locking down the new diagnostic device and then going to see if Wheeljack was up for a movie. He felt the urge to watch some horribly sappy and incredibly impossible human romance movie tonight.

_"That's why, darling, it's incredible_

_That someone so unforgettable_

_Thinks that I am unforgettable too..."_

- 'Unforgettable', Nat King Cole

**- THE END -**


End file.
